Calculating Interest Assume that you have a single interest rate of 15.99%, your ADB is $2,250 and there are 30 days in the billing period. The DPR is 15.99% divided by 365 days = 0.0438% The Interest is $2,250 multiplied by 0.0438% multiplied by 30 days = $29.57 When an interest rate changes, the new DPR may come into effect during--not just at the beginning of-- the billing period. When this happens, we will create a new balance and apply the new DPR to it. To get the beginning balance on the first day for this new balance, we multiply the previous day's daily balance by the old DPR and add the result to that day's daily balance. Other methods To figure the ADB and interest charges, we may use other formulas or methods that produce equivalent results. Also, we may choose not to charge interest on certain types of charges. Determining the Prime Rate We use the Prime Rate from the rates section of The Wall Street Journal. The Prime Rate for each billing period is the Prime Rate published in The Wall Street Journal on the Closing Date of the billing period. The Wall Street Journal may not publish the Prime Rate on that day. If it does not, we will use the Prime Rate from the previous day it was published. If The Wall Street Journal is no longer published, we may use the Prime Rate from any other newspaper of general circulation in New York, New York. Or we may choose to use a similar published rate. If the Prime Rate increases, variable APRs (and corresponding DPRs) will increase. In that case, you may pay more interest and may have a higher Minimum Payment Due. When the Prime Rate changes, the resulting changes to variable APRs take effect as of the first day of the billing period. Other important information Military Lending Act Federal law provides important protections to members of the Armed Forces and their dependents relating to extensions of consumer credit. In general, the cost of consumer credit to a member of the Armed Forces and his or her dependent may not exceed an annual percentage rate of 36 percent. This rate must include, as applicable to the credit transaction or account: the costs associated with credit insurance premiums; fees for ancillary products sold in connection with the credit transaction; any application fee charged (other than certain application fees for specified credit transactions or accounts); and any participation fee (other than certain participation fees for a credit card account). To listen to this statement, as well as a description of your payment obligation for this Account, call us at 000-000-0000. If you are a covered borrower, the Claims Resolution section of this Agreement will not apply to you in connection with this Account. Instead, the Claims Resolution for Covered Borrowers section will apply. About Additional Cardmembers At your request, we may issue cards to Additional Cardmembers. They do not have accounts with us but they can use your Account subject to the terms of this Agreement. We may report an Additional Cardmember's use of your Account to credit reporting agencies. You are responsible for all use of your Account by Additional Cardmembers and anyone they allow to use your Account. You must pay for all charges they make. You authorize us to give Additional Cardmembers information about your Account and to discuss it with them. If you want to cancel an Additional Cardmember's right to use your Account (and cancel their card) you must tell us. If an Annual Membership fee applies for an Additional Card, please refer to the refund policy disclosed in the Closing your Account sub-section of your Cardmember Agreement. If a single Annual Membership fee applies for a group of Additional Cards on your Account, this policy will apply when you cancel the Additional Card on which the fee was assessed. If an Annual Membership fee applies to Additional Cards on your Account, it is shown on page 2 of Part 1 of the Cardmember Agreement. Converting charges made in a foreign currency If you make a charge in a foreign currency, AE Exposure Management Ltd. ("AEEML") will convert it into U.S. dollars on the date we or our agents process it, so that we bill you for the charge in U.S. dollars based upon this conversion. Unless a particular rate is required by law, AEEML will choose a conversion rate that is acceptable to us for that date. The rate AEEML uses is no more than the highest official rate published by a government agency or the highest interbank rate AEEML identifies from customary banking sources on the conversion date or the prior business day. This rate may differ from rates that are in effect on the date of your charge. We will bill charges converted by establishments (such as airlines) at the rates they use. Changing your billing address You must notify us immediately if you change the: ● mailing address to which we send billing statements; or ● e-mail address to which we send notice that your billing statement is available online. If you have more than one account, you need to notify us separately for each account. We may update your billing address if we receive information that it has changed or is incorrect. Closing your Account You may close your Account by calling us or writing to us. If an Annual Membership fee applies, we will refund this fee if you notify us that you are voluntarily closing your Account within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears. For cancellations after this 30 day period, the Annual Membership fee is non-refundable. If an Annual Membership fee applies to your Account, it is shown on page 1 and page 2 of Part 1 of the Cardmember Agreement. If your billing address is in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the time you close your account, this policy will not apply to you. Cancelling or suspending your Account We may: ● cancel your Account, ● suspend the ability to make charges, ● cancel or suspend any feature on your Account, and ● notify merchants that your Account has been cancelled or suspended. If we do any of these, you must still pay us for all charges under the terms of this Agreement. We may do any of these things at our discretion, even if you pay on time and your Account is not in default. If your Account is cancelled, you must destroy your cards. We may agree to reinstate your Account after a cancellation. If we do this, we may: ● reinstate any additional cards issued on your Account, ● charge you any applicable annual fees, and ● charge you a fee for reinstating the Account. About default We may consider your Account to be in default if: ● you violate a provision of this Agreement, ● you give us false information, ● you file for bankruptcy, ● you default under another agreement you have with us or an affiliate, ● you become incapacitated or die, or ● we believe you are unable or unwilling to pay your debts when due. If we consider your Account in default, we may, to the extent permitted by federal and applicable state law: ● suspend your ability to make charges, ● cancel or suspend any feature on your Account, ● require you to pay more than your Minimum Payment Due immediately, and ● require you to pay your Account balance immediately. Collection costs You agree to pay all reasonable costs, including attorneys' fees, that we incur to collect amounts you owe. Credit reports You agree that we will obtain credit reports about you, investigate your ability to pay, and obtain information about you from other sources including information to verify and re-verify your employment and income. And you agree that we will use such information for any purposes (for example, marketing to you or evaluating you for a new account), subject to applicable law. You agree that we will give information about the Account to credit reporting agencies. We will tell a credit reporting agency if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. This may have a negative impact on your credit report. If you believe information we have given to a credit reporting agency is incorrect, write to us at: American Express Credit Bureau Unit, P.O. Box 981537, El Paso, TX 79998-1537. When you write to us, tell us the specific information you believe is incorrect. Sending you notices We mail you notices through the U.S. mail, postage prepaid, and address them to you at the latest billing address on our records. Any notice that we send you this way is deemed to be given when deposited in the U.S.
Finance Charges In the case of any transactions under Your Account, the balances subject to the periodic Finance Charge are the average daily transactions balances outstanding during the month (including new transactions). To get the average daily balance, We take the beginning balance of Your Account each day, add any new purchases, balance transfers, cash advances, debit adjustments or other charges and subtract any payments, credits and unpaid Finance Charges. This gives Us the daily balance. Then, We add up all the daily balances for the billing cycle and divide them by the number of days in the billing cycle. The Finance Charge for a billing cycle is computed by multiplying the average daily balance subject to a Finance Charge by the Monthly Periodic Rate. We will mail Your periodic statement 22 days prior to the due date each month. You can avoid Finance Charges on purchases by paying the full amount of the entire balance owed each month by the payment due date. Otherwise, the new balance of purchases, and subsequent purchases from the date they are posted to Your Account, will be subject to a Finance Charge. Balance transfers and cash advances are always subject to a Finance Charge from the later of the date they are posted to Your Account or from the first day of the billing cycle in which the transaction is posted to Your Account. VARIABLE RATE (EXCEPT VISA CLASSIC AND SECURED VISA CLASSIC). All advances are subject to a Variable Rate which is based on the highest Prime Rate as published in the money rates section of The Wall Street Journal in effect on the last calendar day of each month of each year ("Index") plus Our Margin. The Index plus the Margin equals the Interest Rate. Changes in the Index will cause changes in the Interest Rate on the 1st day of the billing cycle that immediately follows any such change in the Index. Increases or decreases in the Interest Rate will cause like increases or decreases in the Finance Charge and will affect the number of Your regularly scheduled payments. Your Interest Rate will never be greater than 18.00% and will apply to Your remaining principal balance. If the Index becomes unavailable, We may select another Index and Margin which would result in a substantially similar Interest Rate.
